Friday, June 17, 2016

Three More Jibaritos

-Grubbing in ChicagoThe King of the Puerto Rican Sandwiches

It's Puerto Rican Pride week in Chicago. And when one thinks of both Puerto Rican and Chicago in the same sentence usually there's thoughts of a jibarito included. So the story goes this sans-bread sandwich is a Chicago original by way of our large Puerto Rican community. All one has to do to see just how large is ride around the Humboldt Park area on a weekend like this. The Puerto Rican flag is flying just about everywhere and it's not much different the rest of the year. The area of Humboldt Park and it's surrounding neighborhoods boast countless amounts of PR food but it's not limited to just that area. These days you can find it all over the city and in many of it's suburbs. All of them serving Jibaritos which if you don't know are the Puerto Rican sandwiches made with flattened/fried plantains. Today we check out three good options in three different parts of the city.

Sitting on the corner of Fullerton and Kimball is my current go-to stop for Puerto Rican food. Although when I say PR food I usually mean a jibarito. I eat these things in waves and I've been riding one of late. Here they make what i believe to be the most consistent option and I'm not the only one that thinks that as the place has been busy on each of my visits in. I like this one so much because they always fry the plantain into a crisp consistency that lasts throughout. The garlic spread onto the top is just right and not too powerful to where it tops everything else. The steak is always tender and the onions come grilled adding more flavor to the party. The American cheese will always melt once you press your sanwich together and the mayo is never poured on. It's the perfectly balanced jibarito and at $5 or $8 with your choice of rice it's a great deal for the amount of food you get.

Here we have a place up on Armitage that I also sampled a perfectly built jibarito. Also enhanced with the use of potent grilled onions. This one is for those who love them some garlic as they really pile it on. I'd like to try some of the other offerings at this place as their jibarito is stellar.

Here we have a food tuck turned brick and mortar success story. The Jibarito Stop started off as and believe still is a truck but they also have a sitdown store on 18th street in Pilsen these days. The food from the truck was pleasing the one time I tried it and I went to the B&M recently and it was pretty much the same. I will say I don't love the steak they use which is chopped bits of meat that almost seems steamed but it's still tender and thats what you want when eating something in sandwich form. I also wish they gave you a bit bigger portion of rice on the side as it's about only 1/4 of what you get at some of the other spots. I'm a big fan of their empandas with the beef and cheese being my go-to.